Flynanced Teaches Black women how to build wealth

By Laura Onyeneho

Building wealth doesn’t only have to be attained through entrepreneurship. Social media give us the highlight reels of what we can do to generate wealth while owning a business and being our own bosses. However, we seldom see infuencers promoting the same while securing a 9-5 career or job.

Cinneah El-Amin knows this experience all too well. In February, she was laid of from her six-fgure tech job and is now taking a break from corporate America to grow her thriving online career and lifestyle platform, Flynanced.

She launched Flynanced in 2020, a community for “9-5 hotties” to earn more and build wealth, and in a short time has taught over 1,000 women to create the dream lives they want.

Earlier in her career, she earned $72,000 and eventually grew her take home pay to $186,000, more than doubling her salary in four years.

She’s grown a large following of more than 200,000 followers across Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and email, sharing her journey from paying off thousands in student loans and consumer debt to scaling her side hustle while growing her six-fgure-paying career as a project manager.

El-Amin spoke with the Defender to share ways to build wealth while keeping your 9-5.

DEFENDER:Oneofyourfrstfnancial milestoneswassavingyourfrst100K. Howwereyouabletoaccomplishthat goal?

EL-AMIN: It was not overnight. It took me about two and a half years to get to the point where I could say, ‘I did it.’ First, I had to pour into my mental health. I was in therapy. I was working with a life coach. I was just trying to unlearn some of the traumas holding me back. I was putting myself in fnancial disarray because I wasn’t addressing the other traumas and things I’ve gone through. Two, understanding that these are baby steps. I never said my big goal was going to be $100,000. I started by wanting to learn how to live on a budget. I knew I had all this extra money I was making every month that I couldn’t account for where it was going. Te goal was a lot smaller initially, but as I got momentum and accomplished things, I could stretch myself and say that would be a goal I wanted to set for myself. Tird, fnd that tribe. I was able to start making relationships and connections, especially with other Black women. Not feeling like I had to go about it all alone. Looking to people in the community who were going through similar things, could be supportive of me, had other recommendations, or worked with other fnancial people. Tose three things helped me shape my mindset.

DEFENDER: Whatdoyousaytothose whomightnotbeinacareerbuthavea 9-5jobandwanttobuildwealth?How about those in low-salaried careers/ non-competecontractsthatdon’thave wiggleroomtoincreasesalary?

EL-AMIN: We all have six and seven-fgure skills to use to make money. If you’re not currently making the money you want, you have the skill set to do so. Tere are two main lanes for it. For most people who are college-educated, who had previous work experience, no matter what industry or job you’ve had, many times we’re working in jobs not realizing we have the same skillset as people that are more highly paid than us. Tere’s a bit of fnesse that has to happen. [However], at the end of the day, if you were to look at job descriptions for a program manager and compare that to what you do right now as an administrative assistant, you would see many similarities. Another hurdle that we have to overcome is that there are so many jobs out here in lanes for our current skillset, especially if you are that person who has a degree and feels like you’ve never made the money you wanted to make despite the work experience. Tere is a lane for folks who need a degree or work experience. Tere is no better time than now to upskill.

So many programs will pay you to learn skills to become competitive in the job market. I share this in my free newsletter every Friday, ‘Free Game Fridays.’ If you’re willing to work and apply for scholarships, you could be in a six-to-10month program that would lead you to make six fgures. Tat’s why I created my six-fgure masterclass because I get so many questions from qualifed Black women. Bringing in that strategy, leveraging that technology, and sites like LinkedIn to see the money is out there.